In response to the Java Quake of 27th May, 2006, we have set up the Java Quake Help Wiki (http://javaquake.worldwidehelp.info) and since it was set up, in the past 24 hours we are coordinating disaster relief operations with major aid agencies and teams on the ground. There’s also a team working with us in setting up sms relay communications into affected areas based on the previous relief efforts in the region.

The wiki has the basic design and structure in place but we URGENTLY NEED online volunteers to help us out with the wiki in terms of the following tasks:

1. Move relevant content from tsunamihelp (tsunamihelp.info and quakehelp.asiaquake.org)
2. Scrape info from the blogs covering the quake on technorati
3 Post translations from helpjogja.net blog to the wiki (via Andy Carvin’s link: toggletext.com)
4. Remove irrelevant info
5. Add static info on the main page
6. Spread the word out about the wiki

…….etc.

We have been and are in touch with ICRC-Geneva, TSF and IFRC and are receiving important information such as assessments directly from them which shows that they recognize our relief efforts on the blog and wiki. Additionally, we are being provided with 24/7 info updates from aid workers and their teams in the field and are also blogging at World Wide Help ( blog.worldwidehelp.info). We been requested by a couple of NGOs to coordinate and communicate with them in publishing their situational reps on the wiki and blog.

Any help from all of you for the organization and management of content on the wiki is most appreciated. If you’re interested in lending a hand please head over to the wiki or drop us a line to javaquake@worldwidehelp.info”

Some more links.
At Global Voices Online on a special Indonesia earthquake blog, flow of aid to Indonesia, volcanic activity and links to situation reports from various relief agencies.

If you speak Dutch, you can help the team at World Wide Help by translating to information into English or whatever other language you have in your linguistic arsenal. Any assistance you can point their way can be sent to suriname[at]worldwidehelp[dot]info.

As with every emergency, the World Wide Help Group find that the Internet is one of the best sources of information when it appears no news is available. Four radio stations in Paramarimbo, Suriname, broadcast live on the Internet, and a link to all of them can be found on a German website by clicking here.

According to ReliefWeb

It is estimated that 25,000 people have been affected by the rising water levels, with the most severe damage occurring in the southwest and centre of the country.

Caribbean Net News has more on this issue.

Update – I just had an obnoxious comment about how it was just three people who died in Suriname and why it was such a big deal. Talking of a country where the average population per square kilometer is 3 people, Taran at knowprose responds –

I mean, if you think about it – 3 dead in a country where there is an average of 3 people per square kilometer means that there’s now a virtual square kilometer without people. That’s kind of sobering. In Trinidad and Tobago, I think the equivalent is 220 per square kilometer.